Stan Wawrinka (via tennis.com)
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka cruised past Lukas Rosol to advance into the quarter-finals of the St.Petersburg Open.
The Swiss superman was in fine form on Wednesday evening as he took care of world No.85 6-3, 6-1, in just 57 minutes, to continue his bid for a fifth title this season. The Lausanne native won 96% of his first serve points to blast past Rosol, as the Czech player had no reply to the three time grand slam champion.
“I played at a good level for a first match, especially against Rosol, a player against whom I’ve played close matches this year,” Wawrinka was quoted by atpworldtour.com as saying.
“I was trying to make him uncomfortable by mixing the speed of my shots since he likes having a rhythm. I’m surprised with how well things went, but when I play well I know I can beat anyone.”
Wawrinka could play seventh seed Viktor Troicki next, who thrashed Gastao Elias in 54 minutes 6-1, 6-2, to proceed into the second round in Russia. The world number 33 broke Elias four times on his way to victory and will play fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki in round two on Thursday.
While Wawrinka and Troicki breezed past their opponents, fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut didn’t have it as easy and was made to work for his 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2), win over Ricardas Berankis. The tight match was evident from the first ball as world N0.83 Berankis broke in the first game to grab the momentum on Centre Court. Bautista Agut wouldn’t surrender without a fight and broke back to level the first set at 2-2, but Berankis persevered and broke for a 4-3 lead before the first set was the Lithuanian’s at 6-4.
Bautista Agut came out all guns blazing as he broke twice to grab the second set 6-1. As a result of the second set, the Spaniard continued his momentum into the third by breaking for a 2-1 lead in what was a roller coaster decider. Berankis remained tenacious and that was affirmed in the eighth game when he leveled the final set at 4-4. Subsequently the tiebreak came which the Spaniard controlled to win 7-2, sealing the match.
In other results, eighth seed and last year’s runner up Joao Sousa had to be gritty in his 3-6 6-4 7-5 win over Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot. The world number 34 broke seven times on his way to victory and will next play Andrey Rublev, who was 6-3 4-1 up on Mikhail Kukushkin before the Kazakh withdrew from the match due to an arm injury.
